Category Archives: Minneapolis

You’re invited to be a guest at FallCon 2005 October 8th and 9th

Events, Minneapolis

The Minnesota Comic Book Association (run by the extremely generous Nick Post of The Source Comics and Games) has invited all cartoonists to come to Fallcon 2005 October 8th and 9th and get some free table space to promote themselves and enjoy the convention. This sort of generosity is rare for a convention (generally you have to pay for a table at a con… they are around 800 clams at San Diego). It is especially rare for such a first rate convention… FallCon is the largest comic convention in the state of Minnesota and is always a blast to attend.

You can download a pdf I’ve posted for attending here. The pdf includes more info about the convention and has a form to send in to let them know if you’re attending. I’ve added an area to the form you can check if you want to request that you be seated near the conspiracy.

Once you fill out the form, send it to:
MN Comic Book Association
PO Box 131475
Saint Paul, MN 55113

While you’re at it, you’ll probably want to get added to the MCBA’s mailing list as well, which you can do on the left side of their home page.

“The MCBA is a non-profit, non-aligned, all volunteer association dedicated to promoting the comic book medium, comic book creators, publishers, comic book retailers, comic book media and the comic book genre as a whole and has successfully done so via the convention & special event format for over 16 years.”

THE YEAR LONG GRAPHIC NOVEL PROJECT

Events, Minneapolis, Projects

For those of you who participated in 24 Hour Comics Day, beyond the exhaustion you felt you were most likely excited and exhilirated at how much work you could get done in a limited amount of time. We’ve decided to embark on a project inspired by the 24 hour event that hopefully will bear even more exciting creative fruits.

We are starting THE YEAR LONG GRAPHIC NOVEL PROJECT.

THE GOAL: To complete a graphic novel in a year.

THE CHALLENGE: To complete a minimum of three finished pages of comics towards a larger work by the end of each month for a year. More than three pages is, of course, excellent.

THE RULES:
1) The end of the month is defined by the end of the new six hour monthly meetings at The Minnesota Center for Book Arts.
2) While the intent is certainly to produce a lot of pages in a limited time, it is also to produce a lot of high-quality work. Therefore, you can do as much work and planning outside of the meeting time as you want to. In fact, you can come to the meetings with your required number of pages (and as many more as you want) already completed.
3) You can start at any meeting… at this time these meetings are intended to be ongoing indefinitely. It should be noted that many people will probably start at the first meeting, so if you want a good race, this may be a good place to start.
4) If you do the bare minimum, you’ll have 36 completed pages at the end of the year… 36 pages completed is the shortest length that will be accepted as a successful year long graphic novel.
5) You are not required to tell one cohesive story to be considered a graphic novel. You could do all one page strips. There are absolutely no rules about content, other than that the content must be comics.

The Minnesota Center for Book Arts has generously offered some monthly space for Minneapolis area cartoonists to draw in. We will now be meeting on one Saturday a month to draw(this will replace the Sunday Funnies meetings… times will be listed on the Cartoonist Conspiracy website).

It should be noted that this is an open studio time for all cartoonists… you are not required to participate in the Year Long Graphic Novel Project to come and draw with us.

The first meeting will be July 16th 10AM-4PM in the MCBA Flexi Space (for those of you who were at the Spot On Festival, this is the room Big Time Attic had a table in, next room over from the space where we had part of the 24 Hour Event).

July 16th 10AM-4PM
The Minnesota Center for Book Arts
The Open Book Building (in the Flexi Space)
1011 Washington Ave S, Suite 100
Minneapolis, MN 55415
PHONE: 612-215-2520

3 Conspirators in new 24 Hour Comics Anthology

24 Hour Comics, Minneapolis, Projects

Congratulations to the brothers Cannon and Quillan Roe on their inclusion in the new 24 Hour Comics anthology… a total of 24 cartoonists are included in the anthology, chosen out of hundreds of entries from around the world. Great work fellas!

http://www.24hourcomics.com/blog/?p=285

“Kevin Cannon delves into adventure on the high seas (created at the Cartoonist Conspiracy event)”

“Quillan Roe brings a walk to the page (created at the Cartoonist Conspiracy event)”

“Zander Cannon, known for his work on Top Ten and The Replacement God, has an unusual take on the private eye (created at the Cartoonist Conspiracy event)”

Nat Gertler also notes on the blog:

“One interesting note: most of the selections were created by females. The traditional view of cartooning as a male-dominated interest is certainly being challenged by this new generation.”

We’ve also had a lot more women showing up at the Conspiracy meetings lately… this is a really great trend. It is nice to see that comics are no longer alienating half of the population.

“The book is slated to ship in October. If you saw last year’s book, the format is basically the same: 496 pages, conveniently sized (5.5″x7.75″) paperback, for $24.95.”

SPOT ON FESTIVAL THIS WEEKEND JUNE 11-12

Events, Minneapolis, Projects

The Spot On Fair is this weekend and it should be fun… It is part of the Spot On: The Art of Zines and Graphic Novels gallery show that has been there since April 9th (and has recieved some favorable reviews) Many conspirators are participating. There will be a conspiracy table (as well as tables for many other cartoonists and zine makers) where any conspirator can bring comics to sell, and we’ll attempt to manage it (Please put prices on the cover of anything you want to sell, and give us a sheet with the price of the books and the number of copies you’re leaving with us… we absolutely will not deal with your books if you do not do this, unless you talk us into it). We accept no responsibility for lost or stolen books.

This is also intended to be a trading festival, so regardless of whether you have something to sell, bring comics and zines to trade to people for their comics and zines.

Here is the schedule:

SPOT ON FAIR SCHEDULE


Saturday June 11 (10-5)

10-12 Family Day – Zines

Construct your own zine with Alec Mueller – comic artist and By Design graduate.

1-2:30 Craft of Cartooning: Tips and tricks from Cartoonists

Featuring:
Kirk Anderson
Ken Avidor
Andrey Feldysteyn
Shad Petosky
Andy Singer

3-4:30 Cartoonists and their influences

Featuring:
Ken Avidor
Andrey Feldysteyn
Steven Stwalley

Sunday June 12 (12-5)

1-2:30 Tom Cassidy


3-4:30 Mini-Comics: the Art of Making Comic Books by Hand

Featuring:
Bob Lipski
Doug McNamara
Danno Oschendorf
Quillan Roe


Shad Petosky and Rana Raeuchle will also be participating in some of the panels… I imagine some other folks may join in as well.

Thanks much to Big Brain Comics for donating the table for the Conspiracy… Big Brain, if you didn’t already know, is just a half a block away from the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, who is hosting the fair, and houses one of the most amazing masses of comic literature you’ll ever see in one place. Thanks also to Book Arts and Jeff Rathermel for concieving and organizing this event.

The Minnesota Center For Book Arts (MCBA)
(at the Open Book)
1011 Washington Ave. South
Suite 100, Minneapolis, MN 55415

www.openbookmn.org
www.mnbookarts.org

Hope to see you there!

Comics Disappearing in the City Pages?

Minneapolis

I recently got the below email from Andy Singer…

Howdy strangers,

As you all may have noticed, City Pages got rid of its comics page two
weeks ago. The current issue has just ONE cartoon– “troubletown”– in
the entire issue (a very thick issue, I might add). One of the cartoons
they axed (temporarily?) is Kirk Anderson’s cartoon “Lance Boyle”. Since
City Pages is one of the last local cartoon markets (and Kirk is great)
I feel we should speak up. I wrote the letter to the editor below (and
got a response from the paper, saying they hope to reinstate some of the
cartoons on a more regular basis in the future). If you feel like
commenting, send your comments to–
letters at citypages.com (use the @ symbol for the “at”)

Peace,
Andy Singer

Subject: Lance Boyle, Maakies, comics???

Dear Editor,

Where are the comics? “Troubletown” seems to be the only one left! I
like this cartoon …but I also really liked Lance Boyle and the other
comics and I don’t see them in the paper. What happened? The Twin Cities
need more newspaper comics– particularly locally drawn ones. Instead,
there are fewer and fewer. Your rival “The Pulse” has stopped running
them entirely …and the Star Tribune and Pioneer Press each have just
one local cartoonist (…and the one in the Pioneer Press, David
Steinlicht, only appears once a week, if that).

I hope the absence of cartoons in City Pages is just temporary and that
you bring back some of the ones you’ve cut.

Andrew Singer

CARTOONISTS IN THE PARK SUNDAY MAY 22nd

Events, Minneapolis

I’ve just reserved a space for a Conspiracy pot luck in BOOM ISLAND PARK (B) May 22nd from 9:00 AM to 3:00PM. All cartoonists are welcome, whether or not they affiliate themselves with our conspiratorial asses. This is intended to be a social event… there may be some drawing, but frisbee is just as likely.

BYOB, bring food, bring frisbees or whatever outdoor stuff you like to mess around with. Bring your significant others (including kids). You could also BRING YOUR SUBMISSIONS TO WEIRD ILLUSTRATED (Deadline May 23rd) if you’re submitting.

Info is below… the policies listed aren’t mine, but the Minneapolis park services… I will not be counting beer points, and the number of beer points collected during the day will be between you and the aspirin bottle. Don’t know if parking fees apply on Sunday or not, but I highly doubt it.

—————————

Location: Boom Island B
8th Ave. NE & Sibley St. NE
Time: SUNDAY May 22 2005 9:00AM
Duration: Half Day (6 Hours)

Policies: 3.2 Beer only, no kegs. No amplification. Please help out by packing out your trash. No driving or parking on the grass. No staking into the ground. Fires permitted in grills only. Parking at Boom Island parking lots are $.50 per hour. Please recycle using containers where available, Thank You.

Cinco De Mayo Jam in Minneapolis

Jam Comics, Minneapolis, Projects

The next Minneapolis meeting of the Cartoonist Conspiracy is at the Spyhouse Thursday May 5th… Cinco De Mayo. The Minneapolis Cell of The International Cartoonist Conspiracy usually meets at 6:30pm on the first Thursday of each month at the Spyhouse, unless otherwise noted on the website. In addition, we meet the third Sunday of every month at Grumpy’s (May 15th this month).

Generally we meet, draw jam comics, drink caffeinated beverages, and socialize. Once we’re happy with the jam comics, we usually either go home or go get non-caffeinated beverages somewhere.

We’re going to do one 12 page extended jam on a random topic and whatever miscellaneous jams people want to work on this meeting. If you want to suggest a topic to possibly be drawn out of our bag of topics, you can post it here.

The last two months of jams have just been posted here and here. The Beatnik Brigade/Modern Day Voodoo/Comic Found on the Bus strip from March turned out really well, I think.

I’m planning on bringing at least one of the boxes of 24 hour comics we made for 24 Hour Comics Day to the meeting… if you want to buy one they are ten bucks. It is a limited edition of 100 boxes, each box contains 17 comics drawn in 24 hours on April 23-24 2005, and it will never be reprinted. Let me know if you want one in advance so I can bring it for you.

The meeting is at:

Spyhouse Coffee
2451 Nicollet Ave.
Minneapolis, MN
612.871.3177
MAP
BUS INFO
(Route 18 passes by The Spyhouse frequently)

PENTEL POCKET BRUSH PENS AT WET PAINT

Minneapolis, Useful Information

It was not easy to do… they have traveled thousands of miles through rugged terrain, and over an ocean, and at great peril… but the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen, “The Cartoonist’s Best Friend” is now available in the Twin Cities. The casualties were regrettable, but we no longer have to rely on the black market to acquire the legendary brush pen, which, in addition to being the ultimate inking tool also cures warts, works as a dowsing tool, and can be used to control weaker minds. Thanks much to Tim at Wet Paint Art for making the effort to get us a supply of these difficult to find pens in town… Tim is also putting together an email list for cartoonists & other artists to keep them posted on art supply sales at Wet Paint, so if you’re interested, email him and let him know… email tim at wetpaintart.com… only using @ instead of at with no spaces.

ADDED 5/3: I just heard from Tim that the pens are selling at Wet Paint currently for a very reasonable $18… he is still researching finding a steady supplier so he will hopefully be able to bring the price down further.

24 Hour Comic Day Freebies

24 Hour Comics, Minneapolis, Projects

You may be wondering what we have sponsors for, so here is the scoop…

Big Brain Comics and The Minnesota Center For Book Arts are both generously providing us with space to work in… a lot of it. In addition, Big Brain will be providing some food. Michael Drivas from Big Brain and Jeff Rathermel from Book Arts have both generously offered to stay up with us too… thanks guys!

Wet Paint Art will be giving us a lot of art supplies to use (you will still want to bring your own, however, to make sure you’re covered). Tim from Wet Paint Art (who will be participating in the event) tells me participants will be provided with a bag containing:

– a Copic brush pigment liner (black) & Copic SP refillable .2mm pen (very
nice pen!)
– sample bluelined Manga bristol sheets from Copic
– Staedtler 5-pen set of black pigment liners, various points
– a group of Sakura pens with a variety of points and colors
– sample Strathmore 500 professional bristol sheets and swatchbook from
Strathmore
– Wet Paint newsletter & comics supplies flyer

Big Time Attic’s Zander Cannon provided the poster for the event, and BTA’s Shad Petosky will be covering the event live on the web. The brothers Cannon will both be participating.

Grumpy’s Bar will be providing us with some of their delicious food stuffs… if you have never tried deep fried macaroni and cheese, this could be your chance!

We just had two new sponsors sign on for the 24 Hour Comics event in Minneapolis today. Pizza Luce’ has offered to give us some pizzas, and Dunn Bros Coffee has offered to give us some coffee to keep us going (both pizza and coffee will be arriving in the evening on Saturday sometime).


Thanks much to all our sponsors for their efforts and generosity.